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| Our Christmas present from heaven |
As you probably know by now, we welcomed our little princess on Christmas Day, Isabelle Sophia Ong. Having a Christmas baby has always been K's wish and I was glad baby girl decided to make an appearance on that very day, making her the most precious Christmas present we can ever receive.
The labour started on 23rd December, although active labour, as the midwife would call it, started on Christmas Eve. The process was long and hard, and baby girl and I laboured for hours, not before the consultant decided to make an executive decision to end it with a c-section due to the number of hours my waters have broken. When that happened, suddenly a team of hospital staff swarmed into the room and started prepping us for the op. Someone stood by me explaining to me the procedure and the associated risks; someone else measured my blood pressure; K was on the other side assuring me everything is fine. Another midwife helped me change into the hospital gown. Everything was in a blur and before I knew it, I was wheeled into the operating theatre next door. Just before 10pm on Christmas Day, we heard baby girl cry out the moment the surgeon lifted her up from my belly. To be fair, I was zoned out by then, but I remember how excited K was, smiling with joy and telling me excitedly "dear, this is our baby! Our baby girl!" whilst I shivered uncontrollably at the side effect of the epidural. Everyone shouted "Congratulations! It's a girl!" in the theatre. The first comments were "look at that hair!" and "wow she's a big baby!" The anaesthetist asked for K's phone and volunteered to take our first family photo. Soon, they brought her to clean up and asked K over to cut the umbilical cord while they sewed me up. Within 40min, everything was over. I couldn't feel anything waist down, and was extremely hungry. K soon was carrying baby girl Isabelle in his arms and wanted to pass her to me. It was surreal. Wow, this is our daughter.
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| Our first family pic! |
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| Cleaning up |
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| Us meeting for the first time |
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| First pic with daddy |
I was wheeled into the post natal ward, a shared 4 bedder ward. There was another family in the room and that night I was in and out of sleep. Bless K, he drove home close to midnight to cook me some congee for dinner (a very late one; does that count as my Christmas dinner?), and I remember eating a few mouthfuls before dozing off, and he was given an armchair to rest for the night. Baby girl had intermittent sleep herself; she would cry for a bit and we would carry her from her cot and try to soothe her. This repeated for a few times, that eventually I asked K to put her next to me on my bed because I guessed she must feel so foreign now that she's no longer in my womb. Indeed she stopped crying for the rest of the night.
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| First night on the hospital bed with me |
At 6am, a nurse woke me up to take my blood pressure and temperature, and took some blood from me. She also administered an injection to prevent blood clots, and gave me some painkillers. I was also asked what I wanted for breakfast (cereals and a cup of tea with milk). When it was bright, I asked K to go home to rest. Two nurses came by late morning to check on my wound and how I was feeling. Immediately they asked if I could stand up and walk and said I could be discharged if I could go to the toilet without any issues. Soon another midwife came over to check on Isabelle's general well being including her hearing. It was probably the painkillers at work but I was already pretty mobile by the next day! I was served a roast lunch (roast beef) as it was Boxing Day, and even had some apple crumble as dessert.
Appearing in the local newspapers
I was hobbling back from the toilet back to my hospital bed when one of the nurses came over and asked if "this photographer can take some photos of your baby". "Oh but why?" I asked. She smiled and said excitedly "because she is a Christmas baby!" "Oh sure, please go ahead" I said. The gentleman took some photos of Isabelle and for the last shot he suggested a pic of me and baby. "Oh gosh but I look horrible" I protested. He insisted it was ok and proceeded to take two shots of us. "It's going into our local newspaper" they told us. How special! I was looking forward to seeing it.
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| Wow we made it to the front page of the Dartford Messenger! |
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| And the Gravesend Messenger too! |
We tried to rest, but to be honest it was difficult to as it was a post natal ward and babies took turns to cry, including Isabelle. Even through the night. Suddenly you have this live-being next to you and you are supposed to know how to care for her, to ensure her survival. Pretty mind blowing.
K drove to and fro from home, bringing some nice home cooked food for me. To be fair, the hospital food was ok, except they liked to serve cold sandwiches for dinner which I didn't like. We had defrosted our Christmas turkey crown from M&S the day we left for the hospital (too optimistic), and finally K managed to roast it in the oven on boxing day and brought it to the hospital as our belated Christmas dinner.
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| Yay we can go home today! |
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| Putting her in the car seat |
Overall our hospital stay was pretty good. The nurses were nice, helpful and friendly. For a free NHS service I don't think we can fault them in any way. Sure, K and I didn't agree with the length of time they allowed between my waters broke until Isabelle was delivered - I guess it's pretty subjective and we know the system here is always pushing for natural births whereas in Singapore, c-sections are very common, just because it's the public vs private systems. Like what our doctor friend says, in Singapore, every c-section means more money for the private doctors. And it's convenient because they can time and schedule their days better, compared to natural births which can take many hours. I'm just thankful that baby was born healthy (with strong lungs as we can tell from her cries).
Back at home...
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| I secretly took a photo of daddy & baby right after a feed and I could see the look of love in K's eyes <3 td=""> |
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| Daddy's girl |
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| Looking up to daddy |
So it has been two weeks now, and it's been a shock to my system - getting to know the little one and figuring out why whenever she cries. And she cries a lot. I mean a lot, compared to other babies I know. And loud too. It's been really tough I won't lie. I've had to pause this blog post and continue on a few occasions. Thankfully my aunt is here to help, which has been very invaluable, especially when you are sleep deprived. My days are in a blur, my days and nights are flipped over thanks to Isabelle's sleeping pattern. I forget what day of the week it is because it is the same all day, everyday. Emotions are erratic. On some days I look at her and am filled with this overwhelming love; and on others I love a good cry and miss my 'normal life'. On some days I am filled with frustration especially when we don't know what she wants and she just can't stop crying. I guess that's what when they say surging hormones.
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| I don't know why but I love her look here |
Of course every oh-so-cute photo of her does not show the difficult moments so please keep them in mind when you scroll down the below photos :)
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| Back at home on our own comfy bed |
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| Miss Chubby Cheeks |
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We left the house for the first time on Sunday - a milestone which K had to take a photo to commemorate.
Here we were waiting for our lunch table at Bluewater Shopping Centre. |
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| Only two weeks? It feels like two months! |
A little bit about her English names
Some family and friends have commented on the names Isabelle and Sophia, and asked about how we decided on two names. A few comments (I'm sure from well-meaning friends and family) we have had were "wow such a long name", or "wow two names - is it necessary?" Giving two English names is pretty common these days, both here and in Singapore. At least that's what I hear from friends back home. Choosing a name to me is heavy responsibility because she will be known as that for the rest of her life (sure, she can choose to change it but that's not the point), and as parents you want certain character attributes for your child. I've always loved to have a girl's name with "bel" in it and we narrowed it down to Annabelle or Isabelle. K prefers Isabelle between the two. However outside of this 'bel' pool, K likes the name Sophia. I suggested Sophie but was overruled ;). And so because we live in a democratic society, we decided to use both. After all, the meanings behind each name is beautiful: Isabelle means 'devoted to God' and Sophia means 'wisdom', something which I believe is very much needed to succeed in life, however one considers the definition of success in life.
Welcome to this world, baby Isabelle Sophia Ong
Our Christmas will never be the same again :)
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